Census: Bilingualism shrinking outside Quebec

OTTAWA - Bilingualism is losing steam across Canada but gaining ground in Quebec, according to data released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

The new data from the 2011 census shows that Quebec was the only province to increase its rate of bilingualism in English and French since the last census in 2006.

Overall, the national rate of bilingualism in English and French rose from 17.4 to 17.5 per cent of the population from 2006 to 2011, according to the census. This is equivalent to an increase of 350,000 people, for a total of 5.8 million Canadians out of a total population of 33.1 million.

But the increase was largely driven by Quebec, where 42.6 per cent of the population said they had knowledge of both English and French in 2011, up from 40.6 per cent in 2006.

Statistics Canada estimated that Quebec was responsible for 90 per cent of the increase across the country.

Outside of Quebec, knowledge of French grew. But with the total population growing at a faster rate, the bilingualism rates dropped by about 0.5 per cent in provinces such as Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Canada's only officially bilingual province, New Brunswick, also saw its rate of bilingualism in English and French drop from 33.4 to 33.2 per cent since 2006.

Some francophone communities say their local governments are failing to protect their right to live in French, simply because most French-Canadians have learned to speak English.

"This is a problem when we have ministers in British Columbia who tell us that the French language is not an official language here," said Real Roy, who teaches biology in English at the University of Victoria. "I don't know what country they live in. I live in Canada and in Canada there are two official languages."

Roy, who is president of a provincial federation of francophones, said it also bothers him to see the B.C. government spending public money to translate official documents in Asian languages, while suggesting there isn't enough demand to do the same in French.

"This is shameful, and this doesn't help promote French," said Roy, a Quebecer, who has also lived in Germany and China.

In Alberta, the provincial government, with some funding from the federal government, has subsidized an employment services centre that helps French speakers learn English and find jobs.

Suzanne Corneau, who has directed the centre for 10 years, said it has expanded its staff to serve about 5,000 clients per year, up from about 1,000 in 2002.

In that time, she said the clientele has also changed dramatically, from about 15 per cent immigrants 10 years ago to about 55 per cent today, mostly from Africa.

"They don't always find a job in their field because the biggest barrier is English," said Corneau.

In some cases, she said, businesses in the construction or oil and gas industry have become more stringent in searching for qualified candidates who speak English, because of accidents on the job.

But while the total number of Albertans speaking French grew 18 per cent from 68,000 to 81,000 since 2006, the province's bilingualism rate in the official languages dropped from 6.8 per cent to 6.5 per cent.

Meantime, back in B.C., Roy said he observed a big difference in knowledge of French after two stints in the province, first as a student in 1983, and returning since 2001 as a professional. He said better schools and French immersion programs might explain the changes.

"On the ground, when I speak English with my heavy French accent, or (people hear me) speak to my children in French, people speak to me in French," Roy said. "There are a lot of people, whether it be at a Tim Horton's or a grocery store, who reply to me in French."

Statistics Canada also observed a slight decrease in the rate of Quebec residents who reported French as their first language, going from 79.6 to 78.9 per cent between 2006 and 2011, while the rate of people who reported English as their first language increased from 8.2 to 8.3 per cent - about 40,000 people - in the same period.

Roy, who also studied at McGill University in Montreal, suggested that other provinces could learn from the model adopted in that city where anglophones have their own schools, hospitals and other spaces that protect the vitality of their communities.

"I don't blame anglophones for this," Roy said. "I think it's very good that they have their own spaces."

Parliament's language watchdog noted last week that existing laws were never designed to make all Canadians bilingual, but rather to ensure that the national government takes steps to protect the rights of minority English and French communities.

"In fact, the nature of Canada's language policy has, in effect, been a guarantee of the right of citizens to be unilingual and it has imposed obligations on the state to be bilingual so that citizens don't have to be," said Graham Fraser, the commissioner of official languages, at a news conference after releasing his latest annual report. "We are basically two linguistic communities, both of which have a majority of citizens who live side by side, and the key bridges between those communities are federal institutions."

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.